Weed killer containing borax



. Patented June 21, 1955 2,711,367 WEED KILLER CONTAINING BORAX Clifford A. Parish, Sr., Kansas City, M0.

N Drawing. Application September 4, 1951, Serial No. 245,096

3 Claims. (Cl. 71-2.2) This invention relatesto a composition of matter in the nature of a herbicide particularly adapted to kill weeds, grasses and other undesirable road right-of-ways.

It is the universal practice of railroad companies to periodically spray the weeds along their right-of-ways, and around trestles and bridges to eliminate the fire hazard which would otherwise result by permitting the weeds to continue growing and ultimately die and become dry. Liquid herbicides carried in tank cars are used where the weeds to be killed are along a clear and open rightof-way and can be sprayed, but normally, when the weeds to be destroyed are located around trestles and bridges, a substantially dry herbicide, carried on fiat cars, must be utilized.

The liquid weed killer presently used is not particularly hazardous, but in the use of the dry material great care is required to reduce the fire hazard to'the bridges and trestles to a minimum. Additionally, the train must be stopped to permit the workmen to spread the dry weed killer around and under the railway structures.

Such requirements and restrictions limit the number of miles that may be covered in a given period of time, and because of such tedious'and slow methods, there is a great need for a safe and efiicient herbicide that may be easily and quickly sprayed on and the like.

Borax is an ideal weed killer and has been used for that purpose for many years, but no method has previously been developed for placing the borax into solution in sufficient quantity to permit satisfactory usethercof as a spray. Borax in solution is of course, :available, but such solutions are so weak that their killing power is not sufiiciently great to make the use of the solution economically feasible. Also, borax in the dry or subgrowths along railstantially dry state is an irritant to those required to manually handle it.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to present a herbicide having sufficiently large quantities of borax to render its use as a spray satisfactory and practical, and one which can be applied around railway structures with little fear of fires resulting from its use.

Another object of this invention is to present a weed killer that is not likely to cause injury to those who are required to handle the spraying apparatus.

In order to obtain a suspension having a large quantity of borax, /24 lbs. of borax is mixed with %2 lbs. of aluminum sulphate and, to this mixture enough water i takes, the form of a white slurry in the nature of a col-' (approximately 1-5 gallons) is added to present a slurry having the desired strength. The method of spraying adopted and the size of orifice used on the sprayingdevice will determine in part the amount of water utilized.

There are no special requirements for mixing 'the composition and no particular step-by-step procedure to be followed. However, the mixture must be stirred slowly and such stirring should be continued for approximately one hour. The ingredients may be added as rapidly was slowly as desired during the stirring time.

In mixing the aluminum sulphate, borax and water, a definite reaction appears to take place, and the extraordinary results attained from use of the product have proved synergistic action. Never before has such a large quantity of borax been placed in a form capable of passing through an ordinary spray nozzle. The end product loid since the components tend to stay in suspension and do not settle rapidly to the bottom of the container- While the ingredients do ultimately settle, they do not cake and the only requirement necessary to place the productin'a condition suitable for spraying is to invert the container orstir momentarily withapaddle. 'When the herbicide is placed in a railroad tank car theslight ,continuousswaying of the car,,while.in motion, will keep the ingredients stirred and ready for use. k 7

One requirement ofthe product, for railroad-use. par- V ticularly, is that the acidity thereof be kept as neutral as possible without reducing its'eifectiveness as a weedv killer. Since metal tank carsare subject to acidreactions, too much acidity or alkalinity results in corrosive action and-general deleterious results; For this reason' the pH of the product should be maintained at approximately 6. r v

I 'In addition to'th e above ingredients, sodium chlorate" may be beneficially added in virtually any amount 'desired. "Asis well known, this is a combustible herbicide unless kept moist. When sodium chlorate is added to the .water, borax and aluminum sulphate mixture, the

combustibility of the product is greatly. reduced' and the weeds are killed much more rapidly. The rapidity of kill depends, of course, on the amount of sodium chlorate used, but in large amounts the fire hazard becomes great.

The amount of sodium chlorate to be used depends there- 'fore, on conditions at the time of-spraying of'the weeds.

The optimum amount to be used,='however,' is about 1 lb.]of sodium chlorate to each gallon of the solution. 7 Sodium trichloroacetate, also aknown herbicide, may be substituted for the sodiumchlorate, but preferably in quantitie'sonly 25% as great.

The following, chart shows some herbicide and the amounts and ranges suitable for spraying:

Q Aluminum Sodium Water, Borax gallons poundb g fgg 33 23? 1-5 3 1 '1 t a i 1 3 %--2 as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

Having thus described the invention ,what is clairned" V 1. Atherbicidal composition comprising a slurry. pro- I duced by admixing from A to 2 pounds of aluminum sulphate; from /2 to 4 pounds of borax; and from 1 to.5 gallons of, water. f

from to 4-pounds of-borax; and from l to 5 water at a rate sufiicient to; destroy said weeds. V I,

3. A herbicidal composition comprising a slurry. produced by mixing boraxand aluminum sulphatewitha predetermined quantity'of water, there being present a greater concentration of borax than said water is capable V V of dissolving and a sufiicient quantity of aluminum sulphate to produce a substantially stable suspension.

' References Cited in the file of this patent; V

'Mellor, "A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganicand.

Theoretical Chemistry, vol. 5. (1924) page 102.

.Bibliography of the Literature on .the MinorwElements 4th edition, vol. l,.column"31 (page 16) (1948).

Montana Agr. Exp. Station War Circular No. 2 (1943) V i 10 pages.

examples of i the 

1. A HERBICIDAL COMPOSITION COMPRISING A SLURRY PRODUCED BY ADMIXING FROM 1/4 TO 2 POUNDS OF ALUMINUM SULPHATE; FROM 1/2 TO 4 POUNDS OF BORAX; AND FROM 1 TO 5 GALLONS OF WATER. 